"Questions by King Parikchit"

Skandham-2.

Chapter-8.

Slokam-1 to 29.

Questions by King Parîkchit

(1) The king asked: 'How did Nârada, being instructed by Lord Brahmâ, o brahmin, explain the modes and their transcendence, and whom did he explain it to?'

(2) This I wish to understand o best one: what is the reality of those who are in the Absolute of the truth of the Lord who is so full of wonderful potencies and of whom the narrations are so auspicious for all the worlds?

(3) Please continue, o one of great fortune, as I likewise unto the Supreme of the soul have put myself to Lord Krishna, with my thoughts freed from material association in the renouncing of my body.

(4) Those who with faith, regularly take to the matter and as well seriously endure in the endeavor, will after not too long a time see the Supreme Lord appear in their hearts.

(5) Thus receiving it through their ears from the love of their own liberation, this lotus [the Bhâgavatam] of Krishna cleanses the lower from qualities like the waters of autumn do.

(6) Once being cleansed will the person, who took to the shelter of Krishna's feet, never give up that liberation, just like a traveler, who going through the miseries of life, will never give up his home [see also B.G. 5: 17; 8: 16; 8: 21-28; 9: 3; 15: 3-4; 15: 6].

7) As it is not a question of being material, o brahmin, can you as you may know from your good self tell me whether the living being in the beginning comes to the body accidentally or of some cause?

(8) If He is in possession of the lotusflower of this world, that as it were sprouted from His abdomen, then what is the difference between the Original Person with this certain measurement [of the Virât Rûpa] and the situation that one speaks of with the many different embodiments?

(9) How could he who was not born from matter himself and who gave life to all the ones born with a material body, through His mercy see His Form while being born from the lotusflower of the navel?

(10) And also [how can it be that] He as the Original Person maintaining, creating and annihilating the material worlds remains untouched by His own external energy while resting as the Lord of all energies in the heart of everyone?

(11) Also as you formerly explained how by the different parts of the body of the Original Person the worlds were there with their respective rulers, what thus by the worlds of such a one [can you tell] about those rulers I heard of?

(12) And what about the duration of time in periods or the secondary notions about it as also what to say about the time measuring the sound of the past, future and present - and how about the determining of the duration of life of all beings of whatever world as well?

(13) O purest of the twice born, what may be the beginning of time and what about the way in terms of one's karma it is experienced as being short or long?

(14) Then again to what extend is one taken over by accruing [karma] to the different modes of nature in the different life forms which are also certainly the result of one's desire.

(15) Please describe us how life underneath the earth, in the four quarters of heaven, in the sky, on the planets and about the stars, on the hills, in the rivers, the seas and on the islands comes about and what are these inhabitants?

(16) What is the extent and measurement of the outer space universe and the innerspace and what are their divisions? And what is the character and action of the great souls and the vocations and age-groups of society?

(17) What are the different ages, how long do they take and what is their nature and which incarnation of the Lord performs what kind of wonderful activities in each and every age?

(18) What are the specific religious affiliations of human society in general and what are the duties of the three classes [labor, trade and intellect] and their administration [the fourth class] as also what would the obligations be to people in distress?

(19) And what is the number of elements of creation and what are their characteristics and interaction? What are the rules and regulations of the devotional practice to the Original Person in the cultivation of yoga and what are the different spiritual methods leading thereto?

(20) What are the opulences of the yogamaster, where do they lead to, how do the yogis detach from the astral body and what is the transcendental knowledge found in the religiosity about the historical accounts and the vedic stories?

(21) What is the specific order of all those transient living beings and how does it end? What are the good deeds, rituals and also the regulative principles concerning the religion, the means of existence and the pleasing of the senses?

(22) How do all those who either live in union with the Lord or go against Him come about and what is the conditioning of the ones liberated as also that of the ones that live undetermined?

(23) As the independent Supreme Lord enjoying His pastimes from His own inner potency also gives them up as He wants to the external of His capacity, He as the Almighty remains just as a witness.

(24) About all this and more that I didn't ask you, o Supreme Person, I've been wondering from the beginning. Please explain in accordance with the truth, o great sage, what you want to tell me with us all having fallen at your feet.

(25) Surely in these matters of factual knowing you are like Brahmâ originating directly from the Lord, while others are only following to custom after what of borrowed knowledge could be said.

(26) I never get tired, o brahmin, of drinking, in hunger of my fasting, of the nectar of the Infallible flowing from the ocean of your speech'."

(27) Suta Gosvâmî said: "He [S'ukadeva] thus being questioned by the king on topics of the highest truth like these, was, as the instrument of the Creator, very pleased in meeting this servant of Vishnu.

(28) He said: 'This science of the Personality of God called the Bhâgavatam consisting of the story in pursuance of the Vedas was given to the spirit by the Supreme Lord at the beginning of the age wherein the Creator found his existence.'

(29) He then prepared himself to describe in full whatever the king, the best of the dynasty of Pându, all asked in his from the beginning to the end continuing inquiries."

The order carriers of Lord Vishnu, who are worshiped even by the demigods, possess wonderful bodily features exactly like those of Vishnu and are very rarely seen. The Vishnudutas protect the devotees of the Lord from the hands of enemies, from envious persons and even from my jurisdiction, as well as from natural disturbances.